Laryngotracheitis in children

Quite often children have laryngotracheitis, in which the inflammatory process covers not only the larynx, but also the upper parts of the trachea.

Why do children have laryngotracheitis?

Often, the disease is an unpleasant consequence of ARVI, in which breathing through the larynx is severely hampered due to severe swelling and infiltration of the larynx and the primary trachea. The causes of laryngotracheitis in children are most often caused by infections most rapidly developing against a background of hypothermia, among which:

• measles virus;
• parainfluenza virus of type I;
• enteroviruses;
• influenza viruses developing in type A;
• rhinovirus;
• adenoviruses;
• Diphtheria virus;
• beta-hemolytic streptococcus, and others.

Clinical signs of laryngotracheitis

The first symptoms of laryngotracheitis in children are:

• labored breathing;
• strong hoarseness of voice;
• attacks of a strong "barking" cough, significantly worse at night and lasting for half an hour;
• a sore throat;
• retracting the epigastric region during coughing attacks;
• high temperature rising to 38-40 degrees;
• drowsiness, weakness, increased sweating at the end of coughing attacks;
• sudden onset of the disease, which manifests itself more often in the evening and at night;
• great concern for the baby.

How to treat laryngotracheitis?

Mom and dad, faced with unpleasant manifestations of this disease, first of all, worried about the provision of emergency care for laryngotracheitis in children of all ages. To alleviate the condition of a small patient, you can do the following:

1. Open the window or provide in any other way access to the child of fresh and cool air.
2. If there is no high temperature, conduct distraction procedures: put mustard plasters in the calf muscles area or make a warm foot or bathtub. At the same time, the water temperature should be increased gradually, from 37 to 40 degrees.
3. Give the baby plenty to drink: a warm compote, tea, juice or plain water will come in handy.
4. In the absence of fever do warm inhalation with saline solution of sodium chloride.
5. Introduce a 2% solution of Papaverine hydrochloride intramuscularly at the rate of 0.15 ml per year of life of your child.

When the severity of the first seizures can be removed, the question immediately arises as to how to treat the laryngotracheitis in a child further. In severe cases, he is placed in a hospital to prevent life-threatening attacks of suffocation. If a small patient feels relatively good, doctors advise:

1. Set the silence mode: children with laryngotracheitis are not recommended to talk much. It is better to teach your son or daughter to point fingers at the necessary objects or draw what they want to say, and in a game form it will be explained much more intelligibly.
2. Exclude from the children's menu any hot, salty or spicy food.
3. Take care of the humidity in the children's room, which must be warm at the same time. In the absence of a humidifier, its effectiveness proved the inhalation of hot steam: for this you can sit with the child on the edge of the tub with hot water or hang wet towels on the batteries.
4. Regularly do alkaline-oil inhalations with any essential oils (especially peaches) and mineral water.
5. Give antihistamines, but only after consulting a specialist. Also good results in stopping coughing give Erespal and inhalation with Berodual.

As a prophylaxis of laryngotracheitis in children indispensable hardening, special breathing exercises and exercise and physical education.